The Escort and the Princess
by Kid Canter Greatly
Summary: When Vincent, the Vampire Prince, gets stuck presenting the Pumpkin Princess at an event on Halloween, he creates quite the stir with his friends, along with a rather sticky situation with all of Halloween town and the Pumpkin King himself.
1. Chapter 1

The taste of alcohol lingered in Vincent's mouth. It was cheap and terrible, but alcohol, nonetheless. It left the incomparable feeling of numbness that he craved as we walked back into Halloween town, the sun beginning to peak over the horizon. He was coming off the drunken high, but still felt the undeniable warmth that came with it, unfamiliar to unbeating heart of the young vampire.

He was out, late of course, and had found himself exhausted after a long night of partying. He knew that he shouldn't have, with Halloween around the corner, but Barrel was convincing, and there was one particular werewolf girl who managed to send her word that she was _very_ interested in him, and would _love_ to see him there. He didn't appreciate the bite marks she had left on his shoulder when they had hooked up in the bathroom, which in retrospect, was utterly revolting.

The manor was in view, just in time with the sun rising quickly. Any time Lock, Shock, and Barrel had a party, he was always so exhausted for days on end. All he wanted now was to grab a bite and get some sleep. He regretted the party a bit more as he made he way to the front door, and found one of the elder vampires standing in the window.

When he opened the door, the same vampire now stood at the foot of the stairs. The distaste on his face was evident, as was his disappointment in his crossed arms.

"Where were you Vincent?" His monotone voice was the start of Vincent's hangover.

"I was busy networking." He slipped his coat off his shoulders and hung it on the coat rack. "I have to make connections with my fellow youth after all."

"This is not acceptable behavior. We have much to do before Halloween. Jack is counting on us."

Vincent rubbed his eyes and groaned. He didn't want to hear about Jack, or what Jack wants, or what Jack needs. Halloween was on a decline. There wasn't much more Vincent could do. Vampires just weren't that terrifying anymore. Why should he work so hard on Halloween when Women in the human world were mistaking his attempts of fright for attempts at seduction. The amount of work he had to do was absurd and unnecessary at this rate.

"I'll start whatever tonight, yeah? I'm exhausted." He tried to walk up the stairs past his elder.

"Now, now, where do you think your going?" The elder grabbed his shoulder. "The brothers have been up all night to play catch up with your absence."

"And? Are you going to make me do dishes or what?" Vincent's wittiness was nonexist.

"No, no, you're going to run the errands we couldn't." The elder pointed to the boxes by the door. "Jack needs the first one, and the second one needs to be taken to the tailor. I know Jack is at the town hall now, but you'll have to hurry if you're going to catch him there."

"You have got to be kidding me." Vincent pushed his hair out of his face. "This seriously can't wait until tonight? The sun is already up."

"Maybe if you had been home earlier than sun up, it could have been done earlier and it could have been avoided." The elder withdrew his hand. "This is no way for a prince to be acting. What would your father say?"

Vincent hated when the Elders did this to him. _Prince_ this and _prince_ that. He couldn't step too far forward without being reprimanded for being un-princely. And as for his father? He wouldn't have cared less.

"Fine. Fine. Don't expect me to be up early then. I'll get up when I manage to recover." Vincent went back down the stairs to the coat rack. He pulled his coat back on as the Elder droned on. He couldn't hear him over his head pounding. He put on his sunglasses and hat, and tried to figure out how he would hold his umbrella while he carried the boxes.

He struggled to grab everything, and when he did, he realized the nausea caused by a mix of his hangover and now extreme hunger. As much as he wanted to put off these errands for a nice glass of o negative, he just wanted to get back to his coffin as soon as possible. Jack was just going to have to deal with a grumpy vampire.

xXx

Halloween town was almost completely empty, save for a few witches gossiping at the town square. What could you expect from a town completely populated by creatures of the night? They were all asleep, except for the obnoxious pumpkin king, Jack Skellington.

As he entered the Town Hall, he felt the urge to throw up, but pushed past it to get through this dreadful errand run.

The mayor was sitting at a table with Jack, looking over a few blueprints. His face changed to the exasperated one when Vincent let the door slam before him. It was a bit comforting to find someone to be so on edge when he felt like utter garbage. His face changed back, though, when he realized who he was.

"Vincent, what a surprise!" Jack stood up, and bound towards him.

"Yeah, yeah, nice to see you too, Jack. It's the top box. I've got to get going-"

"Oh! This is such perfect timing, Vincent. We were just finalizing the final blueprints for your elders. We just have to go over one more thing and we can send it along with you!"

The mayor's voice annoyed Vincent to no end. "I'll just pick them up later-"

"Now now, it will only take a few minutes, Vincent. We can catch up, talk about how your Halloween plans are going."

"I really don't-"

The door opened from behind Vincent, interrupting him once again. He didn't want to deal with anyone else, but turned to see who it was anyway. Jack's wife, Sally entered, followed by a girl that he didn't recognize. He tried to look her over, but his umbrella got in the way, adding to the tragedy of his situation.

"Sally, darling, what are you doing here? And with our little pumpkin princess in tow." Jack's face turned to an undeniable look of concern.

 _Pumpkin princess?_

Vincent made it imperative that he keep this creature in his line of sight. Since when did jack have a daughter? And when he did manage to see her, when did Jack have a _hot_ daughter?

She stood at about five foot four, which he measured against his five foot eleven. She was maybe and inch or two taller than her mother, who stood beside her. She had her father's hollow black eyes, but a small mouth like her mother's, and the palest skin he had seen. She was sewn together at her joints, making her a very interesting reflection of her parents. Her long white hair that nearly floated around her face gave her a ghostly appearance.

While she may have looked rather strange, there was no denying that she was attractive, leading to a mixed reaction from Vincent. A bit of a "Yeah, I'm interested, but Jack's daughter…? Ew." reaction.

"She was terribly bored, Jack, she's been wandering the house all day like a lost soul. I figured that I would take her with me to the town hall to give her a bit of a new perspective. We didn't pass anyone on the way here." Sally's apology brought Vincent out of his trance.

"Are you sure? Sally, we've discussed this. Halloween is so close now and her presentation needs to be a complete surprise to all of Halloween town. Aside from the mayor and now Vincent."

Sally turned to Vincent, a bit of a surprised look on her face. She must not have noticed him when she passed. "Oh, hello, Vincent, sorry to make such a ruckus."

"No big deal, I just have to go. The top box, Jack-"

"Well, we don't have much of a choice, no do we?" Jack smiled and clapped his hands together. "Vincent, this is our daughter, Eve. She's going to be presented at the Halloween festivities this year as the Pumpkin Princess. Isn't that exciting?"

"That's great Jack, but I'm not really in a position for introductions-"

"Eve, this is Vincent, the Prince of the vampire coven. Speaking in technically, he's around your age."

She turned to him, her head to the side. Her eyeless glance was a bit unsettling to him.

"I like your sunglasses." her voice was small, but pretty like a songbird.

Her statement set him a bit off. What a strange comment to make as a first impression. "I, uh, thank you?"

She gave him a smile, closing her eye sockets. It was strange to see that on anyone but Jack.

Jack then took the box from him and smiled again. "Thank you so much for your delivery, Vincent, but I'm afraid I would like to spend a bit of time with my family. We'll have to touch bases another time."

Vincent was relieved. "Yeah, yeah, another time." He turned and rushed towards the door.

"It was nice to meet you." Eve called to him, and he gave her a small wave before he left.

On his way to the tailor, Vincent's thoughts were consumed with the princess. He knew he wouldn't be able to go home unless he visited a certain tree house that housed a few certain people that would be more than interested to know that there was a new mouse in their cat and mouse game.


	2. Chapter 2

His entrance wasn't as quiet as he intended, as he managed to finally make it up into the treehouse that housed the only three people in Halloween town that Vincent considered his friends.

Barrel, who must have passed out on the couch after Vincent had left earlier, woke startled, as Vincent tripped over the pile of bottles that littered the floor.

"What are you still doing here, Vince? Isn't the sun out?"

Vincent pulled down his sunglasses, giving Barrel a nauseated face. "I'm running errands."

"So one of your errands was to come here…? You're not making any sense, man." Barrel turned away from the vampire, who sat on the other couch across from him.

"No, but I've got some information that you'll be dying to hear." Vincent tapped his fingers together, images of the ever-so-attractive Eve flashed through his mind.

"If this isn't about a cure to a hangover, man, I can't listen right now."

"What's with all the noise, huh?" Lock stood in one of the doorways, shirtless and with his arms crossed. He looked exhausted, but seemed to be keeping his "cool-guy demeanor" up to par. "Vincent, why are you out?"

"I got reprimanded, but that's not important."

"That would explain the hat, running errands?" Lock crossed over to the chair next to the couch that Barrel was laying on, resting his head on his propped hand.

"Exactly, and if miserable over there would wake up, I could tell you why I'm here."

With a groan, Barrel sat up, a pitiful expression on his face. "Fine, whatever, what is it?"

Vincent pointed at him with his umbrella. "I don't appreciate the cruelty." He said, playfully.

"Stop wasting time, Shock is going to lecture me if she wakes up and I'm not there." Lock sighed, sitting up straighter.

"Too late." Shock walked through the same doorway Lock entered from. Lock rolled his eyes, and mumbled something unintelligible. "What are you doing here? Didn't you get enough excitement last night?" She sat down on the opposite side of the couch that Vincent was sitting on, extending her legs to rest her feet on Vincent's lap.

Vincent cleared his throat, putting his hand on her feet carefully, trying not to get disapproving look from Lock, who had on many occasions, reprimanded him for being "too touchy with his girl".

In his own defense, Vincent had been on the bad end of a relentless amount of teasing from Shock after her prompt discovery of his attraction to her.

"He'll tell us if we give him the chance." Barrel said, stretching his arms above his head. "Let's go, I'm tired. This had better be good."

"So, after I was sent to run errands for the tyrant vampire council, I went to the town hall, and of course, Jack and the Mayor are there, doing whatever they do when they're there."

Lock made a small mocking noise. "I'm sure the Mayor was on his knees and-"

" _Anyway_ , so, I'm trying to get out of there, and the two of them are droning on. Right before I'm stuck in something Halloween presentation, the door opens, and in comes Sally- And Jack's daughter."

"Since when?" Barrel leans in, suddenly interested.

"Why is this important, Vinny?" Shock crossed her arms, wiggling the foot Vincent had in his hand.

"Because she's _hot_."

The emphasis on the descriptive term, caught Lock's devious attention. "Oh yeah?"

Shock shot him a dark look, and then returned her attention to Vincent. "How old is she? She can't be very old."

"I'm not sure, and she probably isn't, but she looks about seventeen or so."

"Are you sure, man? 'Cause you're sounding a bit like a creep." Barrel seemed a little less interested.

"To quote Jack, 'speaking in technicality, he's around your age.'" Vincent was smug when he saw the look on Lock's face. The nefarious serial seductor hadn't managed to find this out, and could not be pleased to know that Vincent was. He wished, though, that Shock could see that same expression and understand that Lock was also nefarious serial cheater.

"What did she say?" Barrel the grinned. "What was she wearing?"

"I'll leave that to your imagination." Vincent winked, to which Shock dug her heel into his thigh.

"Is this really worth our sleep?" Shock said, rolling her eyes.

Vincent shrugged. Obviously she wouldn't be interested, but the boys were, otherwise they would have objected quite a while ago.

"C'mon, Lock, I'm tired. Let's go back to bed." Shock purred, holding her hand out to him. He grabbed it and stood up, pulling her up with him. "See you later, Vincent." She ran her fingers across the vampire's cheek.

Barrel yawned and stretched his arms above his head. "Get outta here man and get some sleep. I'll get ahold of you later."

"Right man, I'll talk to you later."

xXx

When Vincent woke the night, he was still in a state of exhaustion, but he rejoiced when his headache had cleared.

His black cat was laying right next to his face, the purring from its stomach made for a strange feeling against his cheek. He reached and wrapped his arms around the scraggly creature, to which the cat reacted to with a small mew.

Halloween was approaching, and that Vincent knew, but his desire to be involved with any preparation was nonexistent. Nearly as nonexistent as his desire to get up.

He had to though, and as he was pulling on a shirt, one of his elders entered, which he noticed was the same one as earlier, though this time, he entered with a mug and a note. "Did you completely your errands, Vincent?"

He shrugged, buttoning the shirt up. "What else would I have been doing?"

"I fear that this message from Jack says otherwise."

Vincent finished with his shirt and took the note out of his hand. It only had his name written on the front. "I was there, don't you worry." He opened the envelope to see what the message said. He was pleased to see that it wasn't a message to reprimand him, but an invitation for this evening for what he wrote as "a visit".

"What does it say, Vincent?" the elder asked, a hint of spite on his words.

"It's an invitation for this evening." Vincent handed him the letter, then took the mug from his other hand. He didn't realize how famished he was until he took a sip.

"And why would he be sending you this?" The elder looked genuinely surprised.

"Maybe I impressed him yesterday." He quickly finished the mug and handed it back to the other with a smug expression.

The elder didn't respond to that, and reread the letter as Vincent pulled on his coat. The young vampire was rather satisfied with this, though he was a little unsure of what this invitation actually was. This was an opportunity to see Eve again, though, so he couldn't really complain.

"You'll have to go soon, the hour on this invitation is coming quite close." the elder sighed, "As in, you have ten minutes to get there."

Vincent groaned, grabbing his sunglasses and putting them in his pocket. "I'll be back, then, don't wait up." He snatched the letter out of the Elder's hand and rushed out of the room.

The Elder shouted something to him, but he couldn't understand him. Vincent's mind was already set with his host's daughter, which made him a bit excited to have to spend some time with the arrogant pumpkin king.


	3. Chapter 3

The night sky was clear, though the clouds seemed to roll in as Vincent approached the Skellington manor, a menacing building that seemed to reach the sky at unimaginable heights. He never been so close to it before, as he had spent most of his life trying to avoid Jack.

He knocked on the heavy wood door as hard as he couldn't without hurting his hand. He feared that it wouldn't have be loud enough for anyone in this gigantic house to hear, but with Vincent's understanding of the pumpkin king, he knew that his arrival would be expected, and was confirmed when Jack opened it within a few moments.

"Oh Vincent, it's wonderful to see you. I'm sorry to send something along on such short notice, but with Halloween so close, I couldn't wait much longer. Please, do come in." He opened the door wide enough for him to enter.

Vincent was curious to see what the house looked like, but wasn't surprised to see that it was relatively drab and grey. He was quite excited to see Eve sitting in an armchair in the entrance, though, wearing a fascinating black dress and her white hair in a braided crown around her head. She stood as Jack closed the door behind them.

"You met my daughter earlier, of course." Jack started as they walked towards her. "When you left, we realized that you might be the perfect solution to a problem we have faced since our decision to present her this Halloween."

"That problem being?" Vincent sat on the seat next to the chair Eve returned to.

"Well, with how busy everyone will be, there has been a conflict revolving around who will be spending time with Eve on the most eventful day of the year. We had discussed, Sally and I, what we could possibly do to prevent-"

Jack's voice became unintelligible as Vincent stole glances at Eve. She sat so unnaturally in her seat, straight and proper. She was paying very close attention to her father, though she also seemed to also be quite uninterested. Jack grabbed Vincent's attention again when he said, "And that's why we have all decided that you, Vincent will be Eve's escort Halloween night."

This struck Vincent's interest. "Oh? And what would that entail?"

"Well, it's quite a bit of work. After all of the work is done in the human world, during the post Halloween activities, you'll be there for her presentation. Before, though, I'm afraid you'll have to stay in town while everyone else is out. Eve will not be leaving at that time. She's far too young and fragile for such an event. I hate to force you to do such a thing, but I fear that it will be difficult to avoid."

 _That was quite a reward_ , Vincent thought, _avoiding halloween completely and having the opportunity to spend quite a gracious amount with the very naive and attractive young princess_. He tried to make his excitement a bit less evident.

"It's a sacrifice I'm more than willing to make." He glanced again at Eve, who now faced him. He flashed her a smile, and to his surprise, a bit of color ran to her cheeks. She quickly returned her attention to her father.

Jack clapped his hands together. "That's fantastic. I would also have to ask you, though, to keep in mind the event we're hosting the following night. Think of it as kind of a debutante ball- a party dedicated to our Eve. Your role as her escort is to learn all proper etiquette that comes with the title, including table manners and dancing. It's going to take quite a bit of time, and with the permission of your elders, we would have to pull you from the Halloween activities and preparations that the vampire coven is involved in. Again, I know that you've put in quite a bit of work into those activities, but I feel it's a fair compromise."

"I'm sure my elders will understand." Vincent's cheshire smile reflected the image he held when he was to tell his elders that they literally couldn't make him do anything until after halloween. He was suddenly grateful for their obnoxious punishment.

There was another heavy knock on the door, which interrupted Jack again. He rushed over to the door, and opened it to the Mayor, whose face reflected disaster. He spoke so quickly that Vincent couldn't understand him. Jack tried to reassure him, but to no avail.

"Alright, alright, we can go to my office and speak for a few moments, but only a few moments." Jack turned to Vincent and Eve. "This is a bit important, but it shouldn't take but a few moments. Please, do stay here, I'll be right back."

Jack started up the staircase followed by the mayor, whose jumbled words echoed off the high ceilings until a door slammed, leaving Eve and Vincent in silence.

Vincent took this as an opportunity to finally make a step in the right direction. "Hi."

Eve looked a bit startled by his voice. "H-hi." she stumbled, obviously unsure of what to do. She had obviously never spoken to anyone out of her social group before, and more than likely, no one around her age range.

"You don't have to be nervous, I'm not going to bite." He flashed her a very large smile, trying to emphasize his fangs, but she didn't acknowledge the reference.

"I really appreciate your stopping by. I know that it's a bit short notice, but my father has such an impulsive nature."

"Oh, no, it's not a big deal. I was a bit excited to see you again, if I'm being completely honest." Vincent was satisfied with the color that returned to her face once again.

"I r-really appreciate that. I was a bit curious about you as well. You see, m-my father was set on the mayor staying in again this year, and having him be my escort, but since he's been very busy this year, my father became a bit more concerned that he wouldn't have the opportunity to. He and my mother came to the conclusion a bit ago, when my father mentioned your name. He's been set ever since."

"I'm honored, truly." Vincent felt the awkward silence that was beginning to grow, and tried to break that with something that wasn't too off putting. "So, what do you manage around here for fun? It seems a bit stiff."

"Oh, well, I read quite a bit. And sometimes I go for walks in the garden." she smiled a small smile. "It's nice to go outside."

"That's also pretty stiff." Vincent raised an eyebrow. "That's all?"

"Well, I have so many lessons, I don't have much time for anything else. There was such a push by my father and grandfather to be completely assimilated to the culture within my first year of life." she seemed a little off put by his comment.

"You're a year old then?" Vincent's voice faltered a bit as he realized forwardness of his comment. It wasn't too strange, considering his father was nearly seven hundred years old and managed to never look a day older than thirty, but this could potentially be a very sensitive topic. It was too late for it to be taken back now.

"Well, yes, technically, but my grandfather has assure me that mentally I'm at the level of nearly twenty. Physically as well."

"You look great for a year old." Vincent laughed, trying to escape the awkwardness that began to build again.

Eve gave him a small smile. "Do you really think that?"

"Yeah, of course I do."

"I appreciate the compliment." Her stiff posture relaxed a bit, an obvious sense of relief falling over her. "It's nice to talk to someone outside of my family for once. I was beginning to go a bit mad."

"Madness is becoming, really, but I could understand why you would have your difficulties. How are you feeling about Halloween?"

Her face became forlorn, and she looked away from Vincent for a moment. "I'm not very excited, between you and me. I fear that my father may think ill of me, keeping me locked away. I'm not sure why he feels so passionately about locking me away on the most important night of the year."

"I'm sure it's for your own good. Halloween scares take quite a while to master. I wasn't allowed out on halloween until I was ten years old." He decided to leave out that the only reason he did go out is because his father practically dragged him out.

"Really?" she turned her attention back to him.

He nodded reassuringly.

Before Vincent could continue, Jack came back downstairs in a bit of a huff. "I'm so sorry, Vincent, but I must cut this meeting short. This situation is going to take a little more time than expected to complete, I do hope you understand."

"No problem." Vincent wasn't particularly disappointed, but it did look like Eve was.

"I'll send for you tomorrow again, I'm sure there will be no issue then." Jack smiled, as did Eve.

"Sure thing, Jack." He waved to Eve as Jack lead him out. She gave him a small wave back as he walked out.


	4. Chapter 4

With his new wealth of time, Vincent felt it necessary to go back to the treehouse on the outskirts of town. Lock would be undoubtedly jealous, which was something that Vincent simply had to see, as it wasn't a very common reaction.

When he got there, he found the three outside smoking, laughing. His entrance was greeted with the snippet of a conversation, and a relatively enthusiastic greeting.

"Back so soon, man?" Barrel laughed, offering him a beer from the table next to him. "What are you doing here, don't you have some dumb Halloween assignment to work on?"

"Not anymore, I don't." Vincent grabbed the beer a cracked it open, taking a seat that the bench Shock had been lazing on. She was dressed to an extent, though she left so little to the imagination. She seemed pleased when he sat down next to her.

"And what exactly does that mean?" Lock put out the cigarette that he had been smoking in the ashtray next to him and lit another one.

"I just left Jack's house." Vincent tried to play nonchalant, but nearly cracked under the faces the all gave him.

"What were you doing there? Did you get banished or something?" Barrel's usually obnoxiously goofy face shift to a bit more of a serious one.

"No, no, nothing like that." Vincent took a drink before he continued. "I was excused of my duties for the vampires to pick up a new job."

"That doesn't sound much better." Shock commented, reaching over and taking the beer out of Vincent's hand and taking a sip. Lock watched like a hawk as she gave it back to the vampire, who was a bit disgruntled that she had to do that now. He took another sip despite Lock's unspoken opposition.

"No, but the job is a bit easier. Instead of draining blood on Halloween, I'll be spending some time… Entertaining the Pumpkin Princess while everyone else is out until her dear father returns to Halloween town."

Now Lock's face changed too obviously to a look of surprise, then envy. All he could say in response was "Oh really?"

Vincent managed to get the response he had hoped for. "Mhmm, I've go a whole evening alone with her while everyone else is far too busy with the busiest night of the year."

"Oh man, he could have asked me to do it." Barrel interjected, evidently hurt. "It's not like we do anything anyway. But maybe we could all go to Jack's house and-"

"Nope." Vincent shot down his idea before it was even pitched. "I'm going to spend a rather intimate evening getting to know her, and you are not going to ruin it."

Shock seemed to take that comment a bit personally. "You're not going to actually-"

"Jack would kill you, man." Barrel was in actual disbelief that Vincent would even try to do that.

"She is a risk that I am more than willing to take." Vincent crossed his legs, now changing his tone to a smug one.

As much as Lock wanted to say something, he wasn't going to. Not with Shock sitting there. He was too competitive to let this one slide though. He was going to come up with something to compete with him. His only response was to take a very long drag of his cigarette before he said, "I hope you're right."

"You know I'm right." Vincent beamed. Lock was defeated, but he had only lost the battle, and not the war.

"Well, nonetheless, even if we did make plans, I couldn't anyway. I'm going to be busy on Halloween." All attention went to Shock, making Vincent's victory short-lived.

"Where are you going?" Barrel asked.

"The witches invited me to accompany them this year."

Lock lifted an eyebrow. "When were you going to tell me this?"

"Well, I never had a chance to. And since you seemed so interested in Vincent's plans, I figured I ought to inform you of mine." Shock always required quite a bit of attention, and by the way she was speaking, it was evident that Lock wasn't giving her his.

They had lived together for years, and Lock and Shock had been a couple since Vincent had known them these past few years. A good portion of that time, Vincent has been head-over-heels in love with the girl that Lock had claimed. He recently had gotten over it a bit, when Lock expressed that he would regret it if he ever stepped out of line, but the desire to be with her still lingered, especially at times like this. There was very few things Vincent wouldn't do for the opportunity to be with Shock. He also had so much more to offer her than Lock did, but no matter his scheme, Lock wouldn't shake Shock, and she would forever be his lost love. Even if she did use his desire for her in her own little twisted way.

At times like this, Vincent nearly crossed the line and assured her that he did care about that, and if she would just finally up and leave her rotten boyfriend, he would continue to care about her. Instead, though, he took another sip of his beer and waited for Lock's response.

"Why would you even bother? It's not like you're one of them anyway." Lock's condescending response sent out a wave of silence.

This was a very sensitive issue between Lock, Shock, and Barrel. They weren't really like the rest of Halloween town. They were simply experiments gone wrong. Living, breathing, and developing corpses. Not zombies risien by supernatural means, not ragdolls created in labs, they were all created by the infamous Oogie Boogie to do his bidding. Since he no longer existed, though, they were lost souls. Never really accepted by Halloween town, as there bodies were created with malice and discord in mind, but never shunned. Even then, though, they were black sheep of society. Shock tried her hardest to be accepted somewhere, and the witches took her in, but she would never actually be one. These three would forever remain outcasts.

Vincent would never understand what that would feel like, being the prince of one of the most prestigious positions one could be in, and knew that a comment like that from the person she loved the most had to be extremely painful for Shock.

Vincent turned to Shock to await her response. Her face was emotionless as they all sat together in silence.

"Speaking of that," she finally spoke, her voice monotone. "I actually have somewhere to be. Vincent, would you be a dear and walk me into town. I don't think anyone else would be willing to escort me."

Vincent shot a glance at Lock, who obviously was aggravated with that response, but agreed with a nod.

"Good, I'll be going then." she looked at Lock and tried to match his condescending tone. "I'll be back. Don't wait up for me." She stood up and started off.

Vincent stood to follow her, unsure of what else to do. Before he left the porch, though, Lock grabbed his arm and warned him, "Do not do anything that you wouldn't do here, vampire, I'll find out. Don't you think otherwise."

Vincent pulled his arm away with a solemn nod, and followed Shock into town.

...

"He's rotten, isn't he?" Shock spoke first to break the silence of the first half of their trip.

Vincent, who still wasn't entirely sure what to do with himself in this situation, was a bit too lost in his thoughts as they walked to have caught what she said. "What was that?"

"Lock. What he said was terrible, wasn't it?" Shock's tone was completely unfamiliar. She had never confided in Vincent before. In reality, there had only been a few fleeting moments that he had been alone with her in the past. This was the longest they had ever been together without Lock there or her being completely conscious.

"Yeah, yeah it was. I'm sorry that he said that. It was completely unwarranted." Vincent tried to reassure her, but he realized how awkward that sounded.

She gave him a small smile, nonetheless, and it made Vincent's mind reel. Those feelings of complete adoration came up again, and he was completely tempted to just take her into his arms and reassure that she could do so much better than him. He just put his hands in his pockets instead.

"I don't know why he has to be like that. He's constantly brooding. I don't know why anyone spends anytime with him at all…"

"Then why do you?" Vincent regretted saying that as soon as the words passed his lips.

Shock looked surprised at that comment. Her answer came out a bit jaded. "Oh, I don't know… I guess I really do love him."

The notion that he didn't love her back was something that Vincent was convinced of, even if Lock had never actually said it. The vampire wanted to just tell her how much he slept around. How little he cared about her. Lock was just so possessive that he couldn't just let her go. Especially not to the one other person who was actually in love with her.

"Sorry to prod. I shouldn't have asked." Vincent pulled his hair bit, hoping that Shock had yet to pick up on that nervous habit of his.

She smiled again, relieving a bit of Vincent's anxiety. She wrapped her arms around his as they walked, leaning into him a bit. Once again, Vincent became anxious, knowing if Lock found out about this, it would be his head.

"You're such a sweetheart, Vince, did you know that?"

He wanted to tell her that wasn't the best compliment to give to a vampire prince, but he let it slide. "Thanks, Shock, that means a lot to me."

They walked for a bit longer in silence as they crossed the inner-town border. She didn't let go of his arm, and if anything, grabbed onto it a bit tighter. He really did enjoy this feeling.

They crossed town square and towards a building that was near Jack Skellington's house. The vampire glanced over to it, and to his surprise, saw a familiar face staring out of one of the windows.

Eve's face peered through one of the smaller windows of the building, and if one wasn't looking for her, they wouldn't have seen her.

When she noticed him, he gave her a grin, that warranted a surprise response that caused her to close the curtain. That satisfied him further.

Shock hadn't noticed and stopped at the tottering door front of the building. "Thanks for walking with me. I'll see you soon, yeah?" She pulled away from him and smiled.

"Anytime." Vincent nodded. He was happy to have had this time with her, though was very conflicted about what she did next.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly.

The vampire knew that he shouldn't reciprocate, but decided to indulged and wrap his arms around her. This was literally the most contact had ever made with her, and every single feeling he had for her flooded back.

She pulled away first, and took it a step further, giving him a small kiss on his cheek. That was when he nearly lost it.

Before he could react, she ran up the stairs and into the building in a hurry. He stood there dumbfounded, unsure of how to process all this. There was no way that he could take something like that the wrong way. That wasn't playful, that was a move. Now, the chase had begun.

Before the thoughts consumed him, he looked back up to the window Eve had been in previously, and found it still empty.

He smirked and realized that he was now consumed by the undeniable fact that he wouldn't be very bored before Halloween.


	5. Chapter 5

Vincent found himself to be very bored while sitting at the dining room table with his elders.

They were all a little less than impressed with his decision not to participate in the vampire tradition of Halloween. They spoke so quickly, sometimes in English and sometimes in Latin, about how disappointed they were with him and what difficulty his ignorance was causing him.

Vincent began to prick his thumb with one of his fangs when the elder to his right finally addressed him.

"Vincent, what on earth compelled you to do this?"

Vincent sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I thought it would be beneficial. It is the daughter of the Pumpkin King we're speaking about."

"How could you stoop so low as to becoming an escort, though? The agreement states that you will not even be going to the human world this Halloween. It was cruel of Jack to even consider this for you." another elder was holding Jack's letter addressed to them about Vincent's agreement with him, as well as another invitation for this evening to discuss scheduling with the Vampire Prince.

Vincent took another sip of the blood sitting in the mug in front of him. It was a bit stale and undesirable, which he concluded was a snarky punishment from his elders. If only Jack's invitation would have sent for him a little later, he wouldn't be stuck sitting half-asleep in the dining room surrounded by upset vampires long before sunset.

"You know, now that I think about it, this could be beneficial…" the elder who had reprimanded him a couple days before now spoke and caught Vincent's attention.

"What do you mean by that?" the first elder hissed.

"She is the Pumpkin Princess. If our young prince develops a strong relationship with the Skellingtons, she could be a potential bride for Vincent."

The table grew quiet and Vincent groaned. Marriage was the last thing he had on his mind about this endeavor, and he definitely did not intend to have Jack Skellington as his father-in-law.

"That is true," the second elder spoke again, taking a sip of the blood he pretentiously poured into a wine glass. "Their daughter would be a suitable match. Jack is arrogant and a bit possessive, but he knows better than to argue tradition. Of all the girls in Halloween Town, she is the most suitable to be married to the future Vampire King."

"Can we not discuss this? I thought we weren't going to worry about the whole marriage thing until I was officially crowned." Vincent may have sounded like a whiney child, but they had mentioned that when the whole situation with his father arose.

"Your father was married by your age, Vincent." the elder that had been defending him stated plainly.

"But I wasn't born until nearly two hundred years later."

The first elder interjected, "We are already facing difficulties with your rash decision, Vincent. The best we can do now is take this opportunity to allow you to court the princess such that we can send the proposal to Jack after Halloween. Your father would have agreed with this decision."

"My father is dead, can we please stop considering his opinions when we discuss things like this?" Vincent had grown tired of The constant reference to his father when dealing with matters like this. His father had been dead and gone for three years now. His opinion of Vincent's decisions weren't particularly important anymore.

"You have no respect for the dead, Vincent. Such a disrespectful young man." the fourth of the elders finally spoke. "How awful of you to speak so ill of your father. The elders have spoken and the decision is final. You have permission to escort the princess, but you must work towards the end goal of making her your wife, is that understood?"

"I have to go and get dressed. I don't have time for this anymore." Vincent pushed himself up from his seat at the head of the table and stomped back up the stairs to his room.

While he wasn't particularly excited to deal with Jack's scheduling, he didn't want to have to sit around and listen to his elders tell him what his father would have wanted for him.

If his father actually cared about the vampire coven at all, he wouldn't be dead.

xXx

Jack's house was darker this evening than it was yesterday. When he knocked on the door, Eve was the one to answer it.

She was wearing a rather tight corset today, which caught Vincent's attention immediately.

"Good evening, Vincent, do come in." she opened the door a bit more to allow him to slip in.

"Hey Eve," Vincent spoke as she shut the door. "Where is your father?"

"He had to stop by town hall to talk to the mayor before his meeting with you. He told me to express his apologies when you got here. Many things have been coming up recently."

"Halloween is in a couple of weeks, after all. I wouldn't expect any less." Vincent watched her as she moved slowly to the sitting area. He watched the way her hips swayed ever so slightly when she moved.

He would give anything to put his hands on this hips right now.

"Do come sit with me for the time being. I made tea, if you would like." Eve sat in the chair that she had been sitting in when he saw her yesterday. He followed suit and sat in the one on the opposite side of the table that the teapot was on. He watched her as she carefully poured tea in the cups that were also on the table.

He murmured a 'thank you', and grabbed the cup and took a sip. He had alway appreciated cinnamon tea, but this was much better than any cup he had had in the past. Tea was always weak enough not to make Vincent sick because of his strong senses, but this tea was teetering on lovey and nauseating, which he appreciated for what it was.

"I hope you like cinnamon. I usually prefer earl grey, but we didn't have any when I went to make it." Eve took the teacup slowly, and took a delicate sip.

"I'm not usually a fan of strong taste, but it's nice, thank you." Vincent was a bit awkward with small talk, especially when it came to consumable items that weren't blood. What opinion was a vampire to have on things that weren't blood or alcohol?

"I'm glad you like it." Eve gave a small awkward smile, which lead to a small awkward silence.

"What were you doing before I came, Eve?" Vincent returned his teacup and watched her intently.

"Oh, I was reading."

"How boring," Vincent started, but then saw the discontent on Eve's face and changed his approach. "What were you reading?"

"Pride and Prejudice."

"What's that about?"

"It's… A love story."

Finally, something Vincent could work with. "A love story? Are you a bit of a romantic, Eve?"

Her cheeks flushed a light pink and Vincent knew he was going in the direction he had been anticipating since he had met her.

"I wouldn't say that…" Eve was a bit embarrassed and Vincent could see that, but he pressed her further.

"Those who are not romantics typically do not read Love stories, Miss Skellington. Tell me more about the story."

"Oh, well, it's about a girl and her family, her mother's push to having all her daughters engaged." She seemed to struggle a proper description of it. Vincent knew this book had to be incredibly boring, but tried to play along anyway.

"Engaged, huh? That is a rather permanent solution in a love story."

"Isn't that the point of love? To eventually marry the other person?"

Vincent thought about what his elders said to him earlier. They were suddenly so interested in arranging a marriage between the two of them, but he didn't want to marry her at all. Being forced into an arranged marriage with him would break her heart. He shook off the thoughts of marriage and tried to take it into a direction that he could handle a bit more.

"You don't have to marry someone you love. You simply have to love them. You don't even have to be with someone to love them." Vincent caught himself before he let that cat out of the bag and ruined his chance with this girl forever.

"Do you love someone, Vincent?" Eve asked that in the same way a curious child would ask.

"No," Vincent lied, "I have never been in love. I hadn't gotten to know someone well enough to. Are you in love with someone, Eve?"

"No, I don't know anyone that I could possibly be in love with…" She seemed a bit disappointed with that fact.

"Is the mayor not an eligible enough bachelor?" Vincent prodded.

"Oh please don't say that, I couldn't possibly ever fall in love with someone like him." She laughed like a songbird, and Vincent could listen it all day.

"He's awful, but single. Come on, Eve, I'm sure your father would be ecstatic to know that you were in love with him." he reached over and tugged on the end of her dress playfully.

She then playfully smacked his hand away, and cover her mouth to muffle her laugh. "No, Vincent. He is much too old and much too anxious."

"So you're not into older guys? Well, your pickings are slim, considering you seem to have only recently celebrated your first birthday."

She laughed much harder and desperately tried to catch her breath. "I'm sorry, excuse me. A lady shouldn't be so loud."

"No, no, I adore your laugh. I wouldn't be making the jokes if I didn't want to hear it." Vincent leaned over again and grabbed her hand to reassure her.

She looked to him, and a blush deeper than he had ever seen before crept up on her cheeks. She pulled her hand away and tucked her hair behind her ear, trying not to make eye contact with him.

Vincent leaned back into his seat and crossed his legs, desperately trying to read her.

She turned to speak to him again, but the front door opened before she could get another word. Jack bound in with his arms full, followed by the mayor, which lead to the two to try to stifle their laughs.

"We will discussed the schedule in my study." Jack motioned upstairs with his head, "Eve, darling, take him up there, will you?"

Eve nodded and stood while Vincent followed. The two walked in silence there, but Vicent enjoyed watching her move in front of him a lot more than he would enjoy listening to Jack drone on for the next few hours.


	6. Chapter 6

"I haven't even gotten to sit by her in a week." Vincent groaned from the couch in the living room of the treehouse. He kicked up his long legs and drapped them over the armrest and covered his eyes with his arms.

It has been a long five days of long hours of etiquette training that Jack, even though he knew very well that Vincent had already grown up with. Table manners, proper conversation, all the things that Vincent didn't care enough about.

"Why don't you just quit?" Barrel asked from the couch opposite of him.

Vincent lifted his arm to look at him through his sunglasses. "Are you joking? I can't quit, Barrel, things like that don't happen in my world." he covered his eyes again

"All of you royals are so stuck up, man. I don't get why you have to do all of this escorting stuff anyway. Who has a party to introduce the daughter you have been hiding for a year?"

"Jack makes a fiasco out of everything, Barrel. I don't know why this would be foreign to you." Lock had been sitting in the arm chair, reading some book that he stole from town hall a couple of weeks ago. Lock had always read a lot, even though Vincent never knew why. Lock was sharp, both in mind and tongue, which could be attributed to the reading, but Vincent's curiosity came from he fact that he spent so much time reading but refused to pursue any kind education at all.

Vincent would like to prod Lock about it, but at this point he was only teetering on the point of friendly and enemy at this point.

"Well," Barrel continued, "Is there any light at the end of the tunnel, Vince?"

"Dancing lessons, I suppose." Vincent sighed. "But even those are probably just going to be ballroom lessons and I will only barely get to touch her."

"It sounds like you need to make more of an effort." Lock flipped the page of his book. How was he even keeping up with this conversation? Vincent could barely read and process what he was reading at the same time.

"How would you propose I do that?" Vincent sat up and looked at him.

Lock closed his book and crossed his legs. With his hair tied back and his glasses on, Lock looked like some kind of a wayward poet. It was off putting, because Lock was more of a short tempered thug than a poet.

"Get creative." Lock shrugged, and after a few moments added. "If you won't, I will."

Vincent wished Lock was here to see the smirk on Lock's face. He was bluntly saying that he was interested in perusing Eve as well, and Vincent would be more than happy to allow him to, if Lock would simply break up with Shock and just let him have her.

Vincent tried to ignore the comment and change the subject. "Barrel. Any plans for Halloween yet?"

"I'm just going to the human world to cause some trouble." Barrel shrugged, finishing off the beer he had be sipping.

"Alone? What are you doing, Lock?" Vincent knew that typically Lock, Shock, and Barrel typically went out to the human world together to cause problems and steal things. He also knew, though, that Shock had be very busy recently with her own Halloween plans.

"I'm staying here." Lock sighed, throwing his book on the coffee table. "I don't really want to do anything."

"How uncharacteristic of you." Vincent picked up the book and looked at the cover. It was a condensed history of Halloween Town. "History?"

Lock ignored him and crossed over to the kitchen. "When is that party of Jack's, Vincent?" He called to him after a few moments of looking through the cupboards.

"The day after Halloween." Vincent put the back book, and looked at Barrel. "Are you guys still having your party too?"

"Nah, we're rescheduling it to the day after." Barrel replied. "It sucks, since it's gonna be hard to do an after-Halloween-party after whatever big thing Jack is throwing."

"Are you guys going to that one?" Vincent didn't expect them to. It was a bit more posh than they typically appreciate.

"I'm not going to miss you acting like a first-rate ass, Vince." Barrel laughed. "Why would I ever miss the Vampire Prince in action?"

"You're an ass, Barrel." Vincent hated when he had to act the part of the son of the vampire legacy. It was a title he wish he hadn't been born into. He wanted nothing more than to be a simple creature in Halloween town, under the radar without a reputation to uphold.

Vincent heard the door open and close behind him. He already knew it was Shock, and he had to admit he was a bit excited to see her. He hadn't seen her since he walked her back into town a few days ago. He had been replaying that memory everyday.

He watched her walk down the hall into her bedroom, completely ignoring the three of them. He wanted nothing more than to follow her, but it would be quite scandalous, and he didn't want to lose any chance he had with her, since it was almost certain Lock would punch his teeth in.

Lock came back and watched her slam the door. He didn't have an inch of remorse on his face, or any concern for her well being. He only slipped at the drink in his hand before he handed it to Vincent. He was still looking down the hallway as he said, "Try this."

Vincent took glass and examined its contents, "What is it?"

Lock turned his attention to him. "Too much cheap scotch mixed with arsenic."

"Why?" Vincent looked it over. Where Lock had gotten arsenic, Vincent wasn't sure, but he was more concerned about why he was handing him alcohol mixed with it.

"Drink it." Lock sat down in his seat and picked up the book again.

Vincent sighed, and brought the glass to his lips. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't very good either.

"Why did you make this in the first place?" Vincent tried to hand it back to him, but Lock denied him and opened his book again.

"Consider it a confidence booster. You need to get out of here and go find that girl. It's annoying to watch. You're education was nearly useless."

Vincent looked at Barrel with a questioning expression, hoping that as Lock's roommate, he would understand this strange interaction. Barrel was looking at him with the same expression.

"I was just there, learning table manners with her father. I can't just go back." Vincent took another sip of the drink. It was slowly growing on him, as disgusting as it sounded.

"Sneak in." Lock turned a page and crossed his legs again.

"Dude, that's crazy." Barrel interjected, nearly choking on his beer. "If Jack found him, he would be banished for sure."

"That's what I'll do if you don't do it first, vampire." Lock still didn't look up from his reading.

Vincent didn't say anything for a few moments. He looked a Lock for a long time in silence, trying to calculate an accurate response. What Barrel had said wasn't untrue. Jack would murder him if he found him sneaking into his house, but if he didn't do something like that soon, he wouldn't spend anytime alone with her. It was already confirmed that she is a romantic. It wouldn't be hard to convince her to let him in if he climbed up the window she was peeking out of a couple of days ago.

"You're not actually considering it, are you?" Barrel was panicked.

Vincent downed the rest of the drink and slammed the glass on the table next to Lock. "You're right. That's the only solution." He stood up, putting his hands on his hips.

Lock looked up at him with a smirk. "Don't get caught."

Barrel tried to convince Vincent otherwise, but Vincent was already pulling his jacket on. "If you don't hear from me by tomorrow, tell the council to make Barrel the heir, yeah?"

"That's not funny, man, this is a bad idea." Barrel tried to stand up, but lost his balance and fell back down.

"Don't worry about me, Barrel, it's not a big deal. No one will even notice a thing." Vincent patted his friend on his shoulder. Barrel have him a resigned look and shook his head.

As he was saying his goodbyes, Vincent heard the door of Lock and Stock's bedroom open and close, and watched as Shock, who was now dressed a bit more risque, walked out. She walked past the three of them and out the front door. Lock didn't bat an eye. The vampire took this as his opportunity to see her. As he turned to leave, Lock said, "You better go after the Skellington girl and not my girlfriend. Jack is not the only one that doesn't like people touching his things."

There was no way for Vincent to reply to that. He waited a moment to show his acknowledgement of his statement, and walked carefully out the door, hoping the girl who had just stormed out hadn't gotten too far.

xXx

Shock was slowly making her way into town when Vincent caught up with her.

She had her arms wrapped across her chest, freezing in the chilly Autumn air. She was fortunate that Vincent had left when he did.

"Hey, Shock." he tried to keep his voice level as he spoke. He desperately wanted to make this sound like he had just casually met her, rather than him walking quickly to meet her. It would be a bit difficult to do that, but he was hoping to come off a bit less like a desperate wreck and more debonair.

She stopped and turned to look at him. "Vincent. Why were you leaving so soon?" he could hear her teeth clattering as she spoke.

Vincent immediately took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. It was a completely platonic act that he assumed wouldn't get him in trouble if Lock had seen it. "It's chilly out. Where are you going?" He was fortunate enough to be nearly cold blooded.

"I'm meeting a couple of people." She didn't look at him as she spoke. He knew better than to press her vague statement.

"Maybe we're going in the same direction. Maybe I can walk you there." He nearly hit himself for how stupid that sounded.

She looked over to him with a small smile. She reached out and wrapped her arms around his, and he nearly thanked the immortal gods that she did. So long as she made the move, he might be able to brush it off if Lock was to find out about it.

They began to walk again, leaving the treehouse far behind them. He was relieved that he could enjoy this a bit more now.

"Where are you going?" She looked up to him, her curiosity obviously piqued.

"Halloween stuff. Not particularly exciting." Vincent pulled his arm a bit closer to himself, in turn, pulling her closer.

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "You work so hard, Vincent. It's to admirable. If only there were more people like you."

He felt a bit guilty that he was lying to her, but he understood that she was comparing him to Lock, who managed to do a little as possible for anyone else to get by. Barrel was worse, of course, but Lock was a more important figure in her life, and one that he was trying to overcome to get to her. It was rewarding to finally have her verbally acknowledge that he was at least better than Lock at something. It also warranted her get closer to him, which he also appreciated.

"It's against my will, really," he tried to make that sound more modest than lazy, "It's expected of me."

She laughed a bit, to Vincent's discomfort. "You're doing a lot better than you give yourself credit for, _your highness_."

"Is that sarcasm, miss?" He liked that she was being more playful now. It gave him an opportunity to be himself a bit more.

"Maybe. A gentleman like yourself would never do anything about that, now would he?" She looked up to him from her position on his shoulder. He concluded that comment was an invitation to _do something_ , but he decided to wait for something a bit more obvious.

He instead put his other hand on her hands, and assured her that "I could, and I _should_ , but there would be a better time and place for that." He was happy he could at least be a bit clever and flirtatious, even if he would never match Lock's capabilities.

She laughed again. "You're cute, Vincent." She slipped her hands down, grabbing his hand with both of them. Vincent was more than pleased with this development.

"I could say the same about you, Shock." It was official; he was flirting back. There wasn't any going back now. If Lock was to find out, he would be just as guilty as her, and he was becoming more and more okay with that.

There was a group of people waiting on the edge of town, which was unusual. There was rarely anyone out this far on an average day. Vincent recognized many of them, but didn't understand what they were doing.

"They're already here." Shock said, standing up straight. She still held on to Vincent's Hand as they approached them.

The werewolf girl Vincent had hooked up with over a week ago spoke first. "Shock, I'm surprised you made it. Is he coming to?" She gave him a look of distaste. He nearly called her on it, but decided against it.

"Oh, no, Vincent has a few things he needs to do, unfortunately." Shock sighed. He instantly regretted making up an excuse earlier.

"Where are you all going?" Vincent asked Shock, but was interrupted by a swamp creature.

"We're going to the human world."

"Why?" Vincent didn't know anyone went any other day than Halloween, especially because of Jack's whole Christmas fiasco years ago.

"For fun." Shock replied. "There's so much going on. It would be a shame to miss it all."

It was a little unsettling to Vincent that they were going. The human world was not an easy place to navigate, nor a place for any creature of Halloween Town. He looked to Shock, trying to hide his anxiety. "Do you want me to come with you? I'm sure I can figure something out."

She let go of his hand and shook her head. "No, no, you go get your work done. I'll see you soon." She pulled away from him and started to follow the others.

Vincent nodded, but felt even more nervous to let her go. Against his better judgement, he simply waved her off as they all disappeared into the forest. He pulled at the his sleeve and realized she still has his coat.

He wondered what consequences that would cause; would she discard it somewhere to avoid taking it home with her, or would she take it home and risk Lock recognizing it. Either way, it was unlikely he would get it back, which was a bit of a loss, as it was his favorite jacket. He was glad that she, of all people, had it. It was an opportunity that he took much pleasure in, and if it was the cost of potentially losing a jacket that he would finally develop a relationship with the girl of his dreams, so be it.

After they were long gone, Vincent continued into town, taking Lock's suggestion to heart, and planning to blindly sneak into the home of the pumpkin king.


	7. Chapter 7

The Skellington manor was darker than it was when he left it. Jack had to have left when he left earlier. That man was always ready to run off somewhere, keeping up with a tight schedule, and it left Vincent with a sense of relief. Maybe there was less of a chance of getting caught.

There was a light in the window Eve had been peeking out of days ago, and Vincent hoped that it was her bedroom, fearing that it could potentially be a more populated and less private space, like a sitting room or a library. He was going to have to scale a wall to get up there, and if it turned out that it wasn't a room that was exclusive to the daughter of the house, and someone else was there, he would be facing some heavy consequences.

This was so incredibly stupid, Vincent thought, and considered what his actual intentions were. He was here because he was attracted physically to Eve, which was at least a decent reason. He was also here to spite Lock, which was less of a good reason. And he was a little disappointed that he did not get a kiss from Shock, which was a terrible reason to be doing this. Technically, the bad reasons outweighed the good ones, but he was still willing to take this risk, all possible problems aside.

He hadn't actually climbed anything like a wall in a very long time. As he stood at the far wall from the road, where there window was located, he could see that the brick made for a relatively stable surface, and that in reality, the window wasn't very high. If anything, it was only three stories, which was less than the five of his own window that he had snuck out of when he was younger.

With a heavy sigh, Vincent checked his surroundings, hoping no one would be able to see him and start rumors. If someone managed so see him and recognize him, it was unlikely the news wouldn't get back to Jack, and he would be in serious trouble, no matter how much he would try to deny it.

When he realized he was on the darkside of the building, and that no one was on the street, he began to climb up, trying his best to move as quickly as possible. He was relieved that he still had the strength to scale a wall like this. He was beginning to realize the vampiric advantages that had been bestowed upon him; his strength would never falter, and he would forever be able to scale a wall to sneak into an important person's house. He remembered a story his father had told him once in his childhood about how he snuck into his mother's home once in a similar manner. He shook the thought away, desperately avoiding thoughts of his father that potentially ruin the high he was currently on as he climbed.

The window sill was close now, and he saw a figure behind the curtain. It was feminine, but at this rate, his mind could be playing tricks on him, the only thing he could do now was knock on it and hope that it was Eve and not someone else.

When the sill was in reach, he grabbed it, and knocked at the glass. He was relieved to see Eve part the curtain, surprised by the sudden act. She quickly opened the curtains and the window, finding the vampire hanging on her window sill.

"Vincent, what are you doing here?" She whispered loudly. She nearly pushed him off, knowing her father was in the room right next to hers. She knew better than to do that, though, but she was so completely unsure of how she could get him to leave without letting him in first. She moved away and gave him space to gracefully climb through her window.

Vincent tried to speak, but was met with her fingers on his lips. She brought one from her other hand to her own lips and shook her head. She was a bit excited that something out of the ordinary had happened, but she was a bit concerned that this might be more detrimental than positive. It was extremely improper for her to host someone without her parents knowing, and having a guest in her room, a boy especially, would be a near betrayal of her parent's trust.

"Why are you here?" she whispered, pulling her hand away from him, embarrassed how forward she had been.

"I was in the neighborhood, and figured I'd pay you a visit. Why? You don't want me here?" He realized that she was quite uncomfortable, and changed his tactic. "I wanted to see you. I haven't been able to speak to you in such a long time."

"Oh, Vincent, you shouldn't have done this. We could have figured something else out. If my father comes in here, he is going to be so upset." She began to pull at the sleeve of her house coat nervously. She was so unsure of what to do. She didn't want Vincent to be here, but she also didn't want him to leave.

"I'm already here, what harm would it cause? I can't stay out very long, anyway. The sun will rise soon, and my coat and hat are at home. If we're quiet, they would never know anyway, right?" Vincent had been in situations like this before, and he had always been exceedingly fortunate that he had never been caught. Then again, it had never been with the daughter of Jack Skellington, which may prove to be a poor decision on his part.

A blush crept up on her cheeks as she realized what was happening. A boy had climbed up to her window, exclusively to see her. The boy, who happened to be a prince, was standing before her, telling her that he hand climbed three stories high to spend time with her. While he was attractive and nice, it had never occurred to her that this boy was that of a fantasy and that he was showing her, what she believed be, more than platonic affection. She had never considered Vincent to be more than her escort, yet here he was, and she was suddenly incredibly shy.

"Eve? Do you want me to leave?" Vincent began to worry that she might have taken this the wrong way and that her silence could warrant her internal struggle to get her father's attention.

A bit too quickly, she objected, a bit unsure of how she felt about this. She was excited and horrified at the same time. The books she had read did not prepare her for an experience like this, even though her favorite heroines had been in similar situations before.

Vincent counted this as a victory. If he didn't get a kiss from Shock, at least he could potentially get one from her before the end of the night.

He looked around and took in his surroundings. The room was relatively drab, similar to the rest of the house. There were few pieces of furniture, the largest being a bookcase that was full to capacity. He looked to her and noticed she must have been in her nightdress, which was much less attractive than the dress she had been wearing earlier. It was dainty, though, and innocent. Such innocence could be considered attractive if given the proper attention.

"What were you doing, anyway?" he looked around to find any evidence of her doing anything at all in this sterile, undisturbed room.

"Reading." She replied, motioning to the book that was on the table, next to the chaise under the window.

"Do you ever do anything other than read?" Vincent took a seat at the chaise and took the book in his hands. The title on the spine was unfamiliar, and the page marker was already so close to the end of the novel.

Eve carefully took a seat next to him, and watched him look the book over. "I had told you before that there isn't much else that I can do. I can't leave the estate yet, and there is not much for me to do in my room other than read."

Vincent put the book back on the table and turned his attention to her. "Then I saved you some boredom by coming here, didn't I?" He smiled playfully.

"I wish we could have made other plans than this, but yes, I do prefer your company to that of the fictional characters." She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked away from him bashfully. She was the closest she had even been to him, and she was trying desperately not to look at his face. She wasn't pained by how attractive he was, but how inappropriate this situation was becoming. Why was she being so forward? Why was she allowing him to stay here when it would upset her parents so much?

"What plans would you want to make, for future reference?" Vincent knew that he was taking advantage of her innocence, but he couldn't help himself. She was making this so incredibly easy for him.

She was taken back by that statement, unsure of how to respond. She wasn't sure how or when she could make plans with him. She couldn't just go ask her father when she would be available or when she could spend time _alone_ with her escort. It had already been established many times that she was going to have to be extremely careful when Halloween came and she was to be alone with him. After countless lectures from her father about Vincent's potentially inappropriate intentions, but she couldn't apply this information to her current situation, or any situation in the near future. Halloween was just a bit more than a week away, which would be more than enough time for Vincent to want to sneak in again.

"Vincent, we can't meet like this again before Halloween." She was proud of herself for finally using her better judgement to try and establish appropriate boundaries, even if she did want to meet with him alone again soon.

"What harm is it for me to meet you? We spend so much time together as it is, but your father doesn't give us the opportunity to even speak to each other. Aren't you bored of that?"

"I am," Eve caught herself before she told him how much she wanted to spend time with him, "But it's inappropriate. I shouldn't have let you in here in the first place."

"But you did," He reached out and grabbed her hand, "And I'm still here. If you want me to leave, I will, but I don't believe you want me to."

Eve panicked at this gesture and she wasn't sure what to do. This was so exciting, and she really enjoyed his passion, but she didn't know him very well, and she was breaking so many rules. She was torn between pulling her hand away and letting him keep it, not matter how inappropriate it was.

"Do you want me to leave, Eve?" Vincent asked, a little concerned with her reaction.

She shook her head, but refused to look at him. Her face must be giving away how she felt, and she was embarrassed that her emotions were being displayed so strongly.

He reached up a turned her face towards him. "I know you aren't used to this, Eve, but I'm not going to hurt you. I promise that your father will never find out. I won't tell a soul."

He wasn't guilty for lying to her until she looked at him. He realized when he saw the troubled look on her face and the blush on her cheeks exactly what he was doing. She really didn't deserve this kind of manipulation. He pulled his hands away and put them on his lap.

There was this terrible looming feeling of regret that washed over him in this moment that lead him nearly throwing himself out the window. She was completely innocent and ignorant to what he was doing. She was genuinely naive and he was just taking complete advantage of it. Shock knew what she was doing when she grabbed his hand earlier, and would be able to accept the consequences if she was dealt any. Eve, on the other hand, did not understand what the extension of her invitation represented in his world, and that it was disgustingly obvious to him that she was too pure for him to exploit, which he had never faced in his entire life.

He was making promises that he wasn't planning on keeping, and he was hoping that he would be able to simply force himself on her and throw her away like any other girl, but it now felt so incredibly wrong. He was disgusted with how willing he had been to sneak in here and put her in the predicament, and how stupid and bitter he had been before he had gotten here. His social prowess was not her concern, and he felt terribly about the intention behind his last statement.

He stood up and turned his back to her, pulling at his hair a bit as he considered his options. This he had never had this kind of a reaction to a situation like this before. He then realized he never actually been in a situation like this one. Any girl he had ever had any kind of a relationship with had always come on to him, or he had been in such a similar drunken stupor that they mutually agreed on hooking up. Sure, maybe he was a source of regret for some people, but they had always been very well aware of the kind of person he was, which had never lead him to this; a girl who had no idea that he was a liar or that he was hopelessly in love with only one person, and that every other girl he was involved with was simply a distraction.

Eve, who didn't understand the conflict Vincent was having with himself, stood up and tried to reach out to him. When he turned to face her again, he didn't realize she was there. He stumbled toward her, and in an effort to keep her from falling, he reached out and wrapped his arms around her.

The sudden move left them in shock, unsure of how to react or what was happening. Eve looked up to Vincent, who was staring down at her, unsure of what to do or what to say. He was already having difficulty was it was, but this made everything even more difficult. He didn't feel comfortable being this close to her, because of the remorse he felt for his actions, but she also didn't pull away from him.

They stayed like that for a few more moments, close together with Eve balancing on Vincent after nearly being knocked over by him.

The longer he stared at her in silence, the more the feeling of regret slowly passed and a different one replaced it. It wasn't lust, or sympathy, but a different one entirely. He could feel her heart racing under his hands on her back. He noticed how delicate her features were and how soft her voice and expressions were. How lovely she smelled and how precious her laugh was.

To his horror, Vincent realized that what he was feeling was relatively unfortunate given his most recent situation. While he thought he had fallen in love once before, he realized that every feeling he had felt for her before didn't compare to how he felt about Eve in this moment, and suddenly he was undoubtedly awestruck, and that he was suddenly in an absolutely terrible and unfortunate conflict.

Just as he was finally making progress after years of lusting after Shock, he had actually managed to fall in love with a girl that wasn't her, and that he had never actually been in love with her at all.

Why had he never realized this before? Why had he been so unwilling to consider this girl as more than just a challenge to show some kind of victory against Lock? Especially when it was now obvious that he felt more passionately about her than he had ever felt when considering any girl in his past.

Vincent pulled away from her after his revelation and took a step back. He continued to stare at her for a few more moments, unsure of how to address this foreign situation. How would one address a girl that they're in love with?

Eve stood there, dumbfounded and unaware that Vincent was coming to terms with how he felt about her. She felt that she did something wrong and that she had completely pushed him away. She didn't want him to dislike her. She wanted to experience so much more than that, but she was just so unsure of how approach him after his reaction.

"I'm sorry, Vincent, I'm not sure how to express myself in the way I would like to. I wish this could have been a bit different." she found it hard to look at him again, and her cheeks were red once again.

Vincent felt that he had already ruined any chances he had to develop a legitimate experience with her. He wished he would have just stayed away from here, ignoring Lock's challenge and figured this all out on his own, without having this terribly awkward experience.

He pulled at his hair again, and spoke after a period of trying to find a way to recover this. "No, this isn't your fault. It's mine. I'm sorry for coming here. I shouldn't have come. I hope you can just pretend this never happened. I'll leave, and I'll see you tomorrow." he tried to walk quickly past her, but she reached her hand to his arm before he could.

"Vincent, please stay."

He didn't expect that from her, nor did she understand how difficult it would be for him to say no after that.

He looked to her, trying to find the words to tell her of his revelation, but nothing came to his mind, and his impulses took control. He put his hands on her face, and leaned in and kissed her, hoping it might explain everything or anything to her.

She didn't kiss him back, and her body stiffened under his touch.

He pulled away, and looked at her face in the hopes that she would give him any kind of a response. Her eye sockets were wide and her lips parted, but she said nothing.

This made him feel worse than if she had rejected him.

"I'm sorry, Eve, you deserve better than me." He took his hands from her face and turned his attention to the window. As he opened it, Eve finally spoke.

"Tomorrow, I'll be in the garden behind the estate. I want you to meet me there at around this time."

Vincent turned and looked at her for a moment, the defeat he felt was replaced with a wave of relief. He smiled at her and nodded. "I'll be there. I promise, I will meet you there as soon as I can."

Eve brushed her hair out of her face again, and walked over to him. Boldly, she kissed his cheek and he was completely smitten. A bit more than a week was all it took for him to fall for her, and he could feel that he was falling hard.

She waved at him as he began to climb down from her window, and he considered this quite the victory for himself. While it may not have been the encounter he initially planned for it was exactly what he needed in order to set his priorities straight.

He looked forward to seeing her tomorrow, and his mind raced with this newfound feeling of lightheartedness.

He didn't even notice that he didn't have his jacket as he was walking home.


	8. Chapter 8

There was light hearted calmness that came with Vincent's revelation, even if he was now in a difficult predicament. While he weighed those options on his walk home, he still felt frighteningly calm about all of it.

He knew that he wasn't as attracted to Shock as he initially anticipated, but he knew that while something had begun happening between the two of them, he didn't say anything to imply that he was willing to take part in a sneaky adulterous relationship with her. It would be rather difficult to explain this feeling to Barrel, who he considered to be his best friend, and he feared that it would cause strain on their relationship, but he was sure Barrel would understand. While Lock was the competitive individual he was, the two would simply have to call a draw. Maybe it would take away Lock's animosity towards him the had been created because of Shock. That would clear up everything with his friends.

Now all Vincent had to do was figure out is Eve felt the same way about him or not. This was probably the most distressing of all of the difficulties that could arise, because she could just say that she wasn't interested in him. If that were the case, Vincent had to admit he would be a bit broken hearted. Even with this in mind, Vincent remained calm and collected, embracing this sickeningly sweet feeling of these obnoxious emotions that he hadn't felt before.

As he turned the corner that the Vampire estate was located, he realized that someone was waiting at the front door, which was extremely unusual and hadn't happened since his father died.

He knew it was Shock as soon as he saw her, though it was strange to see her so soon, as it had only been about an hour since he saw her off.

As he approached her, she stood up from the step she was sitting on, his coat in her hands. She smiled weakly at him.

"Hey, Shock, back so soon?" he approached her, trying to keep a distance between them.

She ran her fingers through her curly hair, "Yeah, well, it was kind of eventful and I didn't think it was worth staying."

They stood in silence for a few moments before Shock held the coat out to him. "Thank you, for this, it was really helpful. It has warmed up a bit, though, so I don't really need it."

Vincent took it and wrapped it around his arm. "Thanks. You could have kept it, though." He was already resigned to not have it returned for whatever reason.

"I don't really need it. Besides, it looks better on you, anyway." her smile grew wider, but there was a hint of something a bit less than pleasant in it.

"Is everything okay? You seem a little down…" he reached out a brushed the hair out of her face, which he felt was platonic enough.

She put her hand on his and pressed it against her cheek. "I'm okay. I'm just so happy to see you." her expression changed again. "What are you doing tomorrow night?"

He stood dumbfounded, unsure of how to answer her. He had officially made plans Eve. He wasn't going to break those plans anytime soon, but he felt terribly about telling her about them. He knew it would upset her, and that was really the last thing he wanted to do. There was still a spark that he felt for her, and he knew that was never going to change.

"I have Halloween plans. I'll be with Jack all night." he lied, looking away from her.

"Oh," she moved closer to him, which was not the reaction Vincent had expected. "Then what about during the day?" she pressed herself against, an action that turned him on unexpectedly.

This was it. This was the moment he had waited years for.

His senses rose, and he could smell the decaying blood that ran through her veins, pumped by her rotting heart. As much as he wished they wouldn't, his fangs extended and he was more than prepared to agree to such plans with her.

He stammered for a few moments, trying desperately to cling to his humanity and remember the flood of emotions he had only a half an hour ago.

"I… Can't." he was finally able to at least get some kind of a rejection out. He was both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

Her shoulders slumped and she took a step back. "Okay, then."

He hated to see her look so upset and impulsively told her, "I have some free time the night after, though."

She perked up, a huge smile on her lips. "Really?"

"Yeah, where should I meet you?" he wished he could hit himself for being so stupid and inconsiderate.

"The graveyard. I know you'll have things to do, but you can meet me when you're finished." she kissed his cheek and walked past him without saying goodbye.

He watched she walked off, bringing the palm of his hand to his mouth and stabbing it with one of his extended fangs. The slight pain was punishment enough for his stupidity and the taste of his own blood caused his fangs to return to their normal size.

When she was no longer in view, he sighed and turned back to the door of the estate where one of his elders was standing, with a less than pleased expression on his face.

"What?" Vincent said coldly.

"That girl is going to cause you nothing but trouble and you have been forbidden to spend any time with her or her cohorts in the past. We all agreed that the only girl that you are to pursue is Jack's daughter. What about that is so difficult for you to understand, Vincent?" He spoke in his monotone voice as Vincent ascended the steps.

"Would you just leave me alone for once in my life?" Vincent groaned.

"No, it is the council's job to ensure that you are fit to lead the coven, and with every passing day, you seem to become more and more ignorant. You have obligations to your royal bloodlines, Vincent, and it is time you start devoting yourself to those same obligations."

"I don't _have_ to do anything. These rules and supposed obligations are ancient and useless. There is no reason for me to keep up with them."

"Your father and his father and his father before upheld these positions and you will do the same."

"My father and all of the people before him were arrogant and stupid."

The elder struck his face with his hand and pushed him inside the estate. Vincent understood that he deserved that, but was unwilling to apologize for his actions. When the door slammed, Vincent turned to face elder with a blank expression.

"Never speak so ill of the dead. They were all great and powerful men that earned their admiration without soiling the nobel vampire lines. Your arrogance and your stupidity is going to run this coven into the ground. The least you can do is try to redeem yourself."

Vincent didn't respond and went straight up the staircase to his room. He locked the door behind him and walked straight to his coffin.

His cat, who had been lounging on the bed stood up and stretched, letting out a small noise. Vincent patted its head all looked through the curtains and saw sun begin to rise.

He climbed into the coffin next to the cat, unwilling to take off his clothes and prepare to sleep. He already knew it was going to be that would be difficult with all of these interactions going through his head.

As unforgiving and apathetic his elder was, he wasn't wrong. He was acting stupidly. There was no reason for him to be acting so irrationally. He wanted nothing more than to be a cold and calculating as his elders. His father was just the right amount of intelligent and emotional, which made him one of the most charismatic vampire kings in his lineage. Vincent was far too driven by his emotions to reach that level of collected power.

In his childhood, Vincent's father alway told him he was so emotional because of his mother. While she had died shortly after Vincent was born, his father always spoke so highly of her. She had been sick for a long time before his parents married, and while she lived quietly alongside his father for a couple hundred years, she would never be able to live immortally alongside him. He was conceived when his parents realized that he that her time had nearly come.

He had heard so many stories about her kindness and her elegance, and his father was completely smitten with her. He wondered if what he was feeling about Eve was what his father about his mother. He hoped that it wasn't, if she didn't feel the same way about him.

The cat curled up next to Vincent's face, purring as he scratched its chin. He focused on the vibrating sound and tried to clear his mind enough to get some sleep. At least he had something to look forward to; while he would have to suffer through a few hours of listening to Jack drone on, he would have an opportunity to see Eve later in the evening and at least potentially have pleasant evening with her. And maybe, just maybe, have the opportunity to kiss her again.


	9. Chapter 9

Vincent pulled on his scarf, which he realized is a bit itchier than he remembered, as he tried to find a way to sneak into the garden.

The weather this evening was that of Christmas Town rather than that of Halloween Town. He didn't usually feel the cold, but tonight was quite different. Maybe he was unconsciously receptive of all around him, including the weather, because of his earlier encounter in the night with the pumpkin princess.

As he had predicted, this had been evening of dancing lessons. Dancing was what Vincent believed to be one of the most passionate of aristocratic activities, and because of that, he had paid very close attention to it's steps in his youth. In the lesson today, he tried his best to impress his new-found object of affection.

He was happy to have been able to spend that kind of time with her this evening, and even more so to meet with her secretly after they had been dismissed.

The small, sly smiles she gave him earlier reassured him that he would at least have the opportunity to court her as best as he could. While he had never actually attempted such with any girl before, he was prepared to take the challenge to woo her and express his fondness.

Vincent found a break in the thick hedges that surrounded the garden. He was relieved that he didn't have to climb again, as he hoped to take advantage of every moment he had with Eve.

Slowly, he maneuvered what he realized was a maze. He sighed knowing that this would be a waste of time. He silently cursed the girl for asking him to meet her here, as she should have known it would be difficult for him.

He moved quickly, rushing through dead ends and split forks in the path.

Just as his impatience nearly forced him to turn around and go home, he found the center, where Eve was sitting on a bench before a fountain, the book from last night in her hands. She nearly glowed in the moonlight, her hair floating on the wind. She was wearing a heavy dark cape over the dress she was wearing earlier, which Vincent had decided was now his favorite.

He walked toward her quietly, trying his best to admire her in this undisturbed state as much as possible. She was so elegant when she believed no one was watching her.

She looked to him after a few moments, obviously oblivious to the fact that he had been there, watching her.

"Vincent," she closed her book and stood up. He appreciated how feminine she looked in that cape. It reflected her personality well. "I'm so glad you were able to make it."

"I wouldn't have missed an opportunity to see you for the world." He replied, taking her hand, and bring it lips. He hoped this came off more as an act of a gentleman than that of faux-charm. "I'm fortunate enough to have your company for the evening. I wouldn't want it any other way."

She shyly pulled her hand away and brushed her hair behind her ear, pulling her book tightly to her chest. "There isn't much time, but I wanted to ask you about last night." She sounded disappointed or upset, which made Vincent a bit nervous.

"You don't seem to be very happy about it." He hoped he hadn't taken her glances earlier the wrong way, getting his hopes up too early.

"It's not that," She looked up at him again. The blush in her cheeks appeared again. "I'm just not sure what happened exactly. You changed so suddenly, and I just don't understand why."

Vincent could understand why she would be so confused. He was caught up in personal strife in those moments, his realization exclusive to himself and undisclosed to the other party involved. He knew he couldn't tell her exactly what that change was. He couldn't just tell her that he changed from wanting to have a quick and quiet affair with her to wanting to actually developing a healthy relationship with her, though that was completely foreign to him.

"I… realized that I'm falling for you." He murmured, a little embarrassed to admit it out loud. It sounded so stupid coming out of his mouth. It was exactly what was happening, but it wasn't something that he, Vincent the cold and brooding prince, was developing more than a feeling of lust for someone like her.

"Is that what that was? A realization?" Her question was genuine, even if Vincent didn't know how to reply to it.

"I really enjoy your company, Eve. I just came to the understanding last night. I don't know what compelled me to meet you, but I'm so glad that I did. It was just the push I needed." He was lying to her, but he felt it was for the best. She wouldn't understand if he was honest with her and would take his now authentic and innocent advances of that of someone with only one intention.

"I enjoy yours, too, Vincent, but I'm afraid that this may not be advisable."

"Advisable? What do you mean by that?" His stomach dropped with the possibility of this being her way of rejecting him.

"You're sweet and handsome, Vincent, but my father… He would be so upset to know this was happening. I can't imagine how heartbroken and betrayed he would feel."

"Eve, this can't really be your reasoning for turning me down." He was nearly offended. "That man, who married your mother at the utmost rejection of your grandfather, can't force you to make decisions against your better judgment."

He nearly forgot that she was Jack's daughter. It was so frustrating to him that she was obviously interested in him and that suddenly Jack- _fucking-_ Skellington was suddenly an obstacle. What was even more infuriating was that she was allowing such a hypocrite dictate how she would feel.

"Vincent, it's not like that-"

"It _is_ like that. Why are you so concerned about how he feels about anything?" The vampire tried his best not to let his emotions get the best of him, knowing they were his tragic flaw.

"I can't betray him. Not after all that he has done for me." She was suddenly uncharacteristically defensive.

"He kept you locked way. You don't owe him anything. Eve, I won't take that for an answer. I won't let your father be the reason I can't show my adoration for you." He grabbed her face compulsively, trying his best to stay calm, though he was a bit more aggressive than he wanted to be.

She grew quiet, staring at him.

"Is there something else? Something that you're feeling that would force you to dislike me?" He searched her face for anything that could possibly give away the answer.

"No, there isn't." She said in a whisper.

He whispered back, "Then you feel the same way I do?"

"I do."

At least he knew that now. He knew that she was at least interested enough in him.

He leaned in and kissed her, trying to be less feverous as he had last night. She still didn't kiss him back, which he attributed to her simply having never kissed anyone, but her body didn't stiffen either.

He pulled away and ran his thumb against her cheek. He was able to admire the pure porcelain skin on her face and daintiness of her facial features. He wanted to stare at her forever.

A voice interrupted them, and he recognized it as Sally's. She called out to Eve, and appeared to be coming closer to them every time she called out.

"Vincent, you have to go." She took a step back from him, pulling her cape tighter around herself.

"I want to see you soon, when? When can I see you again?"

"I'll send you a letter. Please go. I'll see you tomorrow." She put her hands his chest and pushed him lightly.

He quickly kissed her again, and left in the direction he came in. He heard Sally address her daughter as soon as he turned the corner of the hedge.

xXx

As Vincent ran out of the garden and began walking home, he noticed an unfamiliar figure in town.

Lock, who was wearing a heavy coat and scarf, was walking down main street. He never really came into town, unless he was up to no good. If that were the case, though, why would he be out in the open like this?

Vincent approached him, hoping he would offer some kind of an explanation to satisfy his curiosity.

"You're out rather late in the night." Lock said coldly.

"Halloween." Vincent replied, trying to keep the details of this evening's activities minimal.

Lock nodded, pulling the cigarette he was smoking out of his mouth and dropped it to the ground.

"Any particular reason you're in town, Lock?"

"Shock didn't come home last night," Lock seemed more annoyed with this than anything else. "I was hoping to find a reason. Do you happen to know anything about it, vampire?"

It was fair for Lock to be suspicious of him. He had left immediately after her yesterday, and without Lock's knowledge, met with her secretly to make the plans he had with her tomorrow evening. He didn't know where she was, now, though, and at least he could be honest about that.

"I haven't seen her. She may be with the Witches." He hoped that his suggestion would relieve Lock's apprehension.

"Right." Lock brought his index finger to his mouth and began biting his fingernail. Vincent wondered if this habit was developed innocently or as a way to display is abnormally sharp teeth.

"I can help you look for her, if you want." Vincent offered, unsure of what to say.

Lock pulled his finger away and shook his head. "No, no, the sun will be up soon, and I would prefer to not listen to you complain. I'll find her on my own." He moved to walk away, but stopped when he was beside Vincent. He leaned in and whispered, "You're on thin ice. I've warned you to stay away from her. If she even so much as mentions your name when I see her, I'll come find you and stake you where you stand. Is that clear?"

Lock's smooth and even voice sent a shiver up Vincent's spine. He nodded, hoping that his guilt wasn't evident on his face.

Lock stood up straight and put his hands in the pockets of his coat. "If you do see her, send her home, would you? She's been so distant recently. I hope that isn't because of someone else." He began walking off as he spoke and left Vincent alone to hope that Shock doesn't say something spiteful to him to make the vampire look bad.

He turned and watched Lock continue walk down the street for a bit, before he hurried home to avoid being outside at daybreak.

xOx

Author's Note: Hello everyone, thank you for taking a look at the later chapters of my work. This story has been an "in-progress" piece for such a long time and I recently have been struck with inspiration to continue writing it. I have written a total of four chapters in the past few days, and have plans for others. Since I had not written anything for this story for such a long time, the individuals who had read it before must be long gone, and all my recent visitors I assume are new to my work. I really appreciate you read as far as this chapter, and hope everything makes sense and is easy to read. I would appreciate any kind of feedback on this work; anything from harsh criticism to a simple acknowledgment is so helpful and inspiring. I hope you can take the time and leave a review to give my your opinion of my work. Or that you could favorite or follow the story to let me know that people are reading it. If you do not, though, I understand, and thank you again for reading my work.

I hope to hear from you soon.


	10. Chapter 10

Vincent declared, as he walked to the graveyard, that he was not going to give in to his selfish urges when he saw Shock. He was set that he was going to try his best to develop a relationship with Eve, and that the only thing that would happen between he and Shock would be a confession of his new muse and possibly a supportive discussion about her relationship with Lock.

It was a lot less chilly this evening, and Jack let him leave early after a short discussion about proper conversation that Eve had not been present for, as she had a dress fitting. He hoped she would get something in the mail from her tomorrow, and that he would have the opportunity to meet with her soon.

The spiral hill was in view now, the moon illuminating it's strange form. He almost expected to see Shock's0 silhouette on the edge, as cliche as it sounds. To his relief, he didn't see her there, but found her at the front gates. She looked thrilled to see him.

"You're here a lot earlier than I expected." She stood up straighter as he came close.

He pushed the gate open, and motioned for her to enter before him. "I got out a bit earlier than usual."

"It must be my lucky day." She flashed a smile he had hoped to see on her lips a thousand times before. He tried his best to not let his will-power weaken.

He followed her deep into the graveyard, to a willow tree that's branches nearly reached the ground. Shock grabbed his wrist and led him through the curtain of foliage. They were now alone in the near dark, hidden from sight in the scarcely populated graveyard.

She sat at the base of the tree trunk and patted the ground for him to sit next to her. As he sat down, he tried his best to keep a bit of distance between them, hoping it would send out his message without having to reject her. It didn't work, as she moved to be hip-to-hip with him instead. He kept his head straight, knowing that he would smell her blood and have difficulty resisting temptation.

"Isn't this tree lovely? I found it yesterday and I couldn't wait to take you here." He noticed the seductively husky change in her voice that he had only ever use when she was with Lock.

"It's really interesting." He noticed that his voice faltered a bit as tried to keep steady. He couldn't even look at her now in fear of falling weak.

She wrapped her arms around his and leaned her head on his shoulder. He wished he could just tell her that they shouldn't be doing this, even if he desperately wanted to.

Vincent instead took the small talk direction, hoping she would be too bored to stay with him for long.

"How is everything going for Halloween?"

She turned her head towards him, an eyebrow raised. "How do you think it's going?"

"Not fun, I'm sure."

"I quit."

"Did you?" He turned his head towards her, forgetting the difficulty he may face for a moment.

"It wasn't going very well. I wasn't have a good time anymore." She sighed, looking up to him with a defeated expression.

"What are you going to do, then?"

"I'm going to hang out with Barrel. Leave the nihilist at home."

"That's an accurate description of him." Vincent nearly laughed at that comment, but he felt a little guilty laughing at Lock behind his back, especially in this situation.

"He's so incredibly boring. I can barely stand to look at him anymore." She let go of his arms, and leaned in towards him. "He could learn so much from you. You're so hardworking and humble." she brought her hand up, and slowly ran her fingers through his hair.

His mind began to race as he stared at her, all of the animalistic things he could do to her. She was so close to him, and positioned in a way that he could see every curve in her body, knowing he could touch every part of her if he wanted to.

He _did_ want to. He wanted to scrape his fingernails up her thigh and bite the soft skin on her neck, but he couldn't do it. He _shouldn't_ do it. He shouldn't be here after the past few nights, but he was, and he was weak and terrible.

Shock brought her hand down to his chin, tracing her finger along his jawline. He tried to speak, but became dumbfounded at her touch. He just stared at her as she looked at every detail of his plain face.

He knew that she was going to kiss him soon, and if that were to happen, it would be all over and he wouldn't be able to fight against her anymore. He didn't know how to avoid it or what to do to make it obvious that he shouldn't be doing this as much as he physically wanted to.

He started to speak, but Shock moved before he could get anything out. She sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling them closer together than ever before, and every alarm went off in Vincent's head. This was going downhill quickly.

"Why such a strained face?" She whispered in his ear. When he didn't reply (simply because he couldn't find the words to reply), he could feel her lips on his ear and then his neck.

He put his hands on her hips, slowly succumbing to her advances, and focused on his breathing. The smell of her blood was too strong for him to ignore, and his fangs extended against his will. From where she was sitting, he was also convinced that she was very well aware of how interested he was in her at the moment.

She pulled away from his neck and returned her attention to him, her face turning from aroused to concerned. "Are you okay?"

"What?" he snapped out of his dazed state and returned his attention to her.

"Your lip is bleeding. Did I hit you?"

Vincent brought his hand to his face, and he realized he must have nicked is lip on his fang while he wasn't paying attention. He murmured a curse as he wiped the blood from his face.

"You're not really into this, are you?" she sat back and pulled his arms away from him.

He leaned his head against the tree and sighed. "I'm just… I… am having a bit of trouble."

"Oh!" she perked up and moved herself against him, sending a wave of pleasure through him.

"Not that kind of trouble." he tried his best not to grab her hips and force her to do that again. "Moral trouble."

She was deflated once again and moved to sit beside him. "We shouldn't do this, huh?"

He was relieved he didn't have to reject her. "I don't think so."

"What if I broke up with him?"

He didn't expect to hear her say that at all. "What?"

"Would you feel better about it I'm I broke up with him?"

Vincent shook his head, "That is not a good reason to break up with someone, Shock."

"I know." she sighed, crossing her arms.

He could think of a million reasons why she should break up with him, but he didn't say anything.

"But I could," she put her hand on his chest and leaned into him again. "I would break up with him if it made this better for you. I'd do anything for you."

"Shock," he tried really hard not to give into her. "I don't think this is a good time for this."

"What are you so worried about? I won't tell him." she got close enough to kiss him, But he spoke again before she could.

"You're upset with him."

"Because he's a jerk. You have wanted to do this for a long time. You can't deny it."

"I have," he could feel her hand trailing down his stomach. "But, I don't want it to be when you're upset with your boyfriend."

"Would you stop talking about Lock?" she pulled her hand away and say up straight. "You have been obsessed with me for years, and now that we're here you're going to be martyr."

"Not now, Shock, not now. Figure something out with Lock and then we'll talk."

"You're ridiculous." she stood up with a huge huff and started off.

He nearly stopped her because of his agreeable nature, but forced himself to watch her leave. It was for the better anyway. No matter how much he enjoyed that and how much time he would be unconsciously thinking about this in the future, he knew that it had to be done.

This encounter only cemented the fact that he had only lusted after her all this time. He had never loved her, but simply wanted to _experience_ her, possibly confirming that he was a disgusting creature.

He was so close to giving in to her advances and never told her to stop like he should have, yet another reminder of why he was a disgusting creature.

There was a girl, not far from here, thinking so innocently about him. She must have compared him to the men she read about in her romance novels. She was clueless to the fact that he was alone with another girl. It was official; he was a disgusting creature and he didn't deserve the attention of a pretty girl like Eve.

He stood up and dusted himself off, wishing he could have just said no to Shock since the beginning, even though a part of him wanted to chase after her and bring her back to take out every unsightly urge he had had concerning her.

When he pushed the willow's branches aside, Shock was nowhere to be found. He felt that he should look for her, but he knew it would only drag her along further, and he wasn't willing to continuously let her down like that, as her friend, at least.

The only thing he could do is just go home earlier and turn in for the night and hope that he was plagued with dreams that made him really regret this evening.


	11. Chapter 11

Slowly, Vincent was being eaten alive by anxiety as he read the letter Jack had sent him. As he sipped on breakfast, he read that this evening's lessons would have to be postponed, as he had to be at town hall all day, meeting with all the monsters to ensure everything was completed in time for Halloween.

He hadn't heard a word from Eve, and was disappointed that the only letter that was addressed to him this morning was from her father. She said that she would send him word when they would be able to meet next, but he hadn't heard anything from her. Maybe he had simply gotten his hopes up, and she was simply more agreeable than him.

He watched his elders rush around the estate, quickly preparing for Halloween. It was so close now, and while he didn't feel guilty about not helping the others, he was fully aware that he was the reason they had to rush around and try to catch up on everything. Though, after the lecture he received the other night, he was particularly pleased to sit on the kitchen counter and watch the elder that had slapped him struggle. Soon, they all filed out, not saying a word to Vincent, who stayed on the kitchen counter, finishing his meal. He was happy to avoid that long line from town to present the coven's plans, but he realized now there wasn't very much for him to do.

Everyone would be busy today, with their respective groups. All except for Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who had never involved themselves with the work of the townies. He then realized that he hadn't had the opportunity to spend time with Barrel in weeks, despite labelling him his best friend. Barrel never had any plans, and it would be a pleasant experience to spend some time with someone he didn't have any sexual tension with.

He threw the mug in the sink and dragged himself back up the stairs to get dressed and, hopefully, enjoy his day off.

xXx

There was a stillness Vincent noticed as he made his way up the ladder into the treehouse.

Nobody was awake when he entered. It wasn't the first time this had happened, though, and he simply took a seat on one of the couches and waited for any of them to wake up.

Barrel came out after around ten minutes, fully-dressed, and bound over to Vincent with a genuine excitement. "Oh man, I'm so glad you're here. I've been so bored and I missed you a lot."

"Sorry, man, I should have made a point of coming over. If I had known you would have missed me, I would have been here." Vincent was so happy that he was so straightforward and honest. It was quite refreshing.

"No, no, I get it. It's Halloween, it happens. I didn't see you for almost a month last year." He sat down next to Vincent on the couch. "Did I tell you that Shock is going out with me for Halloween? Lock is still pretty set that he is going to stay home, but I don't have to go alone now."

Vincent tried his best to look surprised. "Yeah? That's great. I'm sure you'll both have a great time."

"It's too bad you'll never get to go with us. It would be so neat to spend that time with you too." Barrel didn't look very upset, but Vincent did wish that he could spend that time with him as well. It would be nice to cheer Barrel up and give him something to look forward to.

"Maybe someday, when I finally get to make decisions for myself." Vincent changed the subject, trying to keep conversation going. "Did she come back, by the way? I saw Lock the other night and he was looking for her."

"Yeah, she came home last night." Barrel looked in the direction of the hallway. "They kind of got into a bit of an argument, but I think they made up. She seemed really upset about something when she came back though. I tried my best to figure it out, but she wouldn't tell me. But, she did promise me that we would go out on Halloween, and that was enough for me. She wouldn't make plans like that if she was really, really upset."

Barrel must have heard everything, and if he did, he would have heard if Shock had said anything about Vincent and admitted that they had met last night. He would have told Vincent immediately if Lock would have been angry at him, but he didn't. That was a bit weight off of Vincent's shoulders.

"Let's go out and do something." Vincent declared, standing up. He didn't really want to be here when Lock or Shock woke up. It would be better if they left.

Barrel's face lit up. "Really?"

"There isn't a whole lot we can do, but I'm sure we can figure something out." Vincent grabbed Barrel's arm to pull him up. "Plus everyone is going to be busy at town hall, so everything should be pretty quiet."

"Sounds great. I want to go the graveyard. I haven't been there in ages."

Vincent nearly objected after his experience with Shock there last night, but he wanted to make this an experience for Barrel to express to his friend that he did care about him. The vampire agreed, knowing that this would make up for all the recent situations he had gotten himself into.

As they were about to go out the door, Shock walked out from the hallway, and Vincent had just enough time to make eye contact with her, and notice the dark mark on her neck. At least he knew that wasn't from him, that that the two of them had made up, somewhat. She did look upset with him, though, as they locked eyes for a few seconds. She turned back down the hall just as Barrel called him to hurry up.

xXx

The night sky was cloudy, the moon hidden behind foggy layers, dimming the graveyard more than usual. Barrel wanted to sit a top the spiral hill, which Vincent obliged to, hoping the view would be worth it.

As they sat down, Barrel continued his story about the time he and Lock had broken into the Mayor's home when they were kids and stole a huge Venus flytrap for Shock.

"You should have seen his face the next day when he complained to Jack about it. He was so upset, but Jack didn't know what to do about it, since he was only missing the plant. I'm pretty sure Jack thought he was hallucinating or something."

"You always make Lock sound so lighthearted when you talk about him. He's been nothing but grumpy since I've meet him." Vincent took a seat next to him and looked out to the vast graveyard.

"He's really not that bad, Vince. He's a nice guy, in his own little way. He just doesn't trust people outside of the three of us. I don't blame him. He really got the worst of it when we were younger."

Vincent didn't know very much about Oogie Boogie, who had terrorized the town when he was very young. He knew that he was terrifying and purely evil, but he didn't understand the extent of it. The only evidence that really remained of Oogie's existence remained with Lock, and a series of grotesque scars that lined his back. Each of them had gotten their fair share of scars, but there was something so unnatural about the ones that had ruined Lock's pale skin. Vincent didn't want to know what had happened, and would never ask, but the three of them knew, and must have confided in each other about it.

"I know he did," Vincent replied, "But he really doesn't have to be such a jerk."

"You're too sensitive." Barrel made a circle in the dirt with his finger. "You really haven't made an effort to let him trust you. You're not a bad guy either, but you're both too competitive, and so similar."

"I know, Barrel, I know." Vincent sighed and lean back on his palms. "I have to make more of an effort if he's ever going to trust me." He suddenly realized he had an opportunity to talk about Eve without Lock's sneering. "And I know exactly where I can start."

Barrel smiled and replied. "Why the devious look?"

"I kissed Jack's daughter the other night."

Barrel's expression changed to a doubtful one. "That's it?"

"It's complicated. I think this one is different." He felt a little awkward talking to Barrel about it, but at least he could get it out now.

"Different how?"

"I just feel so different with her, like I want desperately to spend time with her, and anything physical is a bonus, but not a goal. I'm just so happy to look at her and talk with her."

Barrel's smile returned. "That sounds really nice."

"It is, and I'm falling hard for her and I don't know what to do about it."

"You're falling in love, Vince! That's so crazy. I didn't even know you were capable of feeling love." Barrel playfully pushed his arm.

"Weird, right?" Vincent pushed Barrel back, fortunate to be able to talk to him so personally. "I don't know where it came from, but I'm not complaining. Though, I haven't really seen her recently."

"I'm sure she's interested in you, she doesn't really have a lot of options."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to remind me." The thought that Eve was only interested in him because he was the only person she knew out of her immediate family was one that had crossed Vincent's mind a couple of times, but he tried his best not to think about it too much.

"I'm really happy for you. And that would definitely keep Lock from constantly suspecting you of trying to steal Shock away from him. Good on you."

Vincent knew that he couldn't tell Barrel about their meeting last night. While he was sure Barrel would understand, he also knew that his friend would be very upset with him. Barrel cared very deeply about Lock and Shock's relationship, and if Vincent were to come between them, the vampire would no longer have a relationship with any of them.

"If Lock would treat her better, he wouldn't have any reason to worry, would he?" That sounded more spiteful than Vincent anticipated it would.

"I know you like her, but they've been together forever, and I know they love each other a lot. She's really pretty and nice, but it's for your own good to stay away from her, no matter how much she seems to be interested. She can be a really good friend, too." Barrel returned to drawing the circle in the ground. "And now the two of you can be. Especially because you both love someone now. We can all just be friends, like we should be."

"Yeah, we can." Vincent patted Barrel shoulder, and decided it was time to change the topic away from that back to Eve. "At the ball, I'll introduced the two of you personally."

"Oh man, I would love that. I can't wait to meet her. I hope she's as pretty as you said she was." Barrel's joyful spirit returned. "I'm sure she's great if you like her. Oh man, you could take her to our party the day after! That would be so cool and then we can spend some time together. That would really be the best."

"It would be nice, wouldn't it? I'll try to convince her." Vincent hadn't gotten the chance to think about their relationship past Halloween, but this did give him a bit of hope.

"We could sneak her out! I could totally help you do that. Any opportunity to be sneaky would be worth it, and if I get to help my best friend out in the process, then I'm more than willing." Barrel's child-like nature was in full force.

"We'll make a plan for it as soon as I get the okay from her, I promise." It did sound like quite the adventure to Vincent, and it would be nice to have his support.

They continued to catch up well into the evening, and Vincent enjoyed every goofy story Barrel told and every lightheart exchange they had. It was well worth it, Vincent confirmed as the two parted ways before sunrise, and that he needed that experience more than anything else right now.

xOx

Author's Note: Still going strong, and hopefully I can actually complete this fic by the end of the year. I wanted to address a review I received from a guest, and assure you that I absolutely adore Lock, it's just that Vincent doesn't. Unfortunately, Lock is certainly put in a bad light in this story because it is told almost exclusively in Vincent's point of view, and Vincent is a bit of an arrogant snob, which would explain his distaste of Lock. I hope this chapter clear some of that up, and Barrel's voice of reason was a bit clear.

Thank you all for your continued support, and I hope to hear from any of you soon. Please feel free to leave me any kind of comment to help me progress through this story.


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